“You didn’t beat me, boy!” Hades bellowed. “You’re a clone of the real man! You’re nothing but an echo.”
Ryder shrugged one shoulder as if he were bored with this conversation. “I guess we could find out. You’re not in your realm and I happen to be in mine, but it could be fun.”
Hades bit out a curse. “I’m not afraid of two mortal children. But I think the two of you should be very afraid of two gods.” He inclined his head and we followed his focus. Ky Ares stepped forward from the other side of the wide lobby, grinning maliciously at us.
He was right. We should be afraid of two gods.
In fact, I was super afraid of two gods.
A year ago, Ryder and I couldn’t defeat Nix and there had been two of us and one of him. In fact, we’d both ended up in the hospital and Ryder’s injuries had almost been fatal.
What would these two ruthless killers do to us? Ares was the god of war for goodness sakes. He had to be one of the most creative killers of all time.
My hand landed on Ryder’s shoulder and my fingers dug into his muscle. Shit just got very real and I wasn’t sure if we would make it out of this one.
“It’s a pity we need you,” Ares sneered. “You would be very entertaining to play with.” He stalked toward me, uncaring of the threat Ryder posed or that humans had stopped to watch us with open curiosity.
I could hear the airline employee speak to someone on the phone behind us. My guess was that he had called security the minute Ryder’s hand started glowing and lightning snapped back and forth between his fingers.
I mean, that’s whenIwould have called security.
Panic flared beneath my skin and boiled in my belly. I needed to diffuse the situation as quickly as I could. “He’s using you both. Why can’t you see that?”
They shared a triumphant smirk. “Little girl, we know what he’s doing,” Hades laughed.
“It’s exactly what either of us would do in the same situation,” Ares went on. “We applaud him for his manipulation this time around. He’s always been so obtuse in the past. It’s nice to see he’s finally taking things seriously.”
“Well, he has to,” Hades put in as if Ryder and I had disappeared and this was just some casual conversation between two gods about their god-brother. “He finally has the power to do something. I would have killed him myself if he let this opportunity slip through his fingers.”
“You mean the weapon? What is it?” I felt breathless at the mention of it. I couldn’t say why, but whenever the weapon was brought up, I got extra nervous. What was it? And what did Nix want to do with it?
Hades raised a dark eyebrow, “The weapon? You mean, you don’t know?”
Ares chuckled and his sardonic humor felt oddly at my expense. “I suppose you’ll find out soon enough.”
A staggering shiver slithered down my back. I had no response to that. I didn’t want to find out, not soon, not later, not at any time.
Ryder’s hand squeezed my hip tightly. I sucked in a sharp breath and tried to clear my whirling thoughts. He seemed remarkably held together despite the threats surrounding us. I wanted to borrow some of his bravado to get me through this.
I knew we were out of options. There wasn’t anywhere to go and there wasn’t anyone here to save us. Ryder and I were well and truly caught.
I wondered how far away Nix was… how much time I had before I had to face him. I couldn’t stomach the idea of being trapped with him again… of being enslaved.
I would rather die.
And I didn’t mean that in the dramatic sense of the phrase. Oh, no. The idea of living out the rest of my life chained to Nix and all of his nefarious scheming was so absolutely abhorrent to me that I would have chosen death every day of the week over living that out. I couldn’t do it.
I wouldn’t do it.
I supposed that was why when Ryder started tugging on my skirt that I started paying attention.
“Get ready to run,” he mumbled under his breath.
I wanted to ask him where he expected me to run to, but I didn’t get the chance.
Ares and Hades had slowly moved together. They weren’t standing exactly side by side, but they were close enough for Ryder to hit them both. The energy in his palm brewed with intensity. I felt the energy in the air prickle my skin and the otherworldly nature of the power pulse in the air around us.
I braced myself a moment before he released his supernatural power on the doubting gods. The energy spun from his hands in a shower of light and electricity.
